Photo by Katy Brown, Davis
CHURCHYARD
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
After the eulogies
the dead man lies a-graving
while flies and critics
go on nattering —
on the fringe a lilac blooms —
the former great man’s
writings deconstructed,
mispellings [sic], non-
sequiturs, naive assumptions,
flower-phrases that would
gag a schoolgirl nowadays,
as the maggots do their work.
Grasses green all over
the earth-pan summer
silence. Frogs, cicadas
go on psalming spring
and autumn. Listen.
Every century of seasons
totally turned over
dust to dust and star
to dark, in marble King David
tunes again his harp.
—Taylor Graham, Somerset
After the eulogies
the dead man lies a-graving
while flies and critics
go on nattering —
on the fringe a lilac blooms —
the former great man’s
writings deconstructed,
mispellings [sic], non-
sequiturs, naive assumptions,
flower-phrases that would
gag a schoolgirl nowadays,
as the maggots do their work.
Grasses green all over
the earth-pan summer
silence. Frogs, cicadas
go on psalming spring
and autumn. Listen.
Every century of seasons
totally turned over
dust to dust and star
to dark, in marble King David
tunes again his harp.
Thanks, TG! Taylor Graham took the bait: Send me a poem, drawing, or photo about cemeteries before midnight tonight (Sunday, 8/5) and I'll send you a poetry surprise. That's kathykieth@hotmail.com/. Watch for more poetry from TG in Rattlesnake Review 15, due out in September (deadline for submissions is 8/15), as well as her column, "Making Fun of Poetry."
—Medusa